Typewriting machine



Nov. 14, 1939. L. WISE TYPEWRITING MACHINE Filed June 29, 1958 RNEY .w.www

,d ATTO Patented Nov. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES inane PATENT oFFieUnderwood Elliott Fisher Company, New

York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application June 29, 1938, SerialNo. 216,479

4 Claims.

This invention relates to typewriting machines and more particularly tomachines of the Elliott Fisher or flat platen type.

In performing, on machines of this type, work of the ordinary characterconsisting of two or more lines of typing and requiring multiple linespacing such for example, as the posting of a number of items on ajournal or ledger sheet, it is desirable that the work pieces shall befirmly clamped in position on the platen to prevent the same from movlngdurlng the postlng operation. In typing certain kinds of work, such asthe transferring of balances at predetermined periods, the typing oneach work piece or sheet consists of a single entry a line. Work of thistype must be rapidly produced if it is to be done economically and therepeated clamping and releasing of each individual Work sheet, at itsinsertion in and removal from the machine, increases considerably thetime required to perform the work, and correspondingly increases thecost of production.

The principal object of the present invention is to produce a machine ofthe Elliott Fisher type in which the work pieces may be placed inoperative position in the machine and removed from the machine withoutclamping and releasing the same by the Work holding clamp or clamps.

Another object of the invention is to produce, for machines of the abovetype, a construction which normally occupies a position such that itdoes not interfere with the normal operation of the work holdingclamping devices and the platen but which may be readily adjusted whendesired to hold relatively the clamping devices and the platen on atleast one side of the platen in nonclamping relation with the platen intyping position.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists in aconstruction embodying the novel and improved features hereinafterdescribed and particularly pointed out in the claims, the advantages ofwhich will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in theart.

- The invention will be clearly understood from the accompanying drawingillustrating the invention in its preferred form and the followingdetailed description of the construction therein shown.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a View in side elevation, partly broken away, illustratingcertain portions of a typewriting machine of the Elliott Fisher typewith the invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a detail view in side elevation illustrating a portion of themechanism shown in Fig. 1 with certain of the parts in differentpositions,

and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the mechanism illustrated in Figs. land 2taken substantially on the line 3 3 of Figure 2 and also showing aportion of the typing mechanism.

The invention is illustrated in this application as applied to atypewriting machine of the Elliott Fisher type preferably havingsubstantially the same construction, except as to the means for holdingrelatively the work clamping devices and the platen in non-clampingrelation, as the machine illustrated and described in the patent toFoothorap No. 1,904,127, dated April 18, 1933. The platen' is mounted insubstantially the same manner and is operated by substantially the samemechanism as in the machine illustrated and described in the patent toFoothorap No. 1,596,420, dated August 17, 1926.

The construction shown in the drawing comprises a platen frame in whichis mounted, for vertical movement, a substantially at platen. The platenframe includes parallel spaced side members or rails indicated at 2 andcross bars 4 connecting said side rails and forming, with said siderails, a substantially rectangular frame in which is mounted forvertical movement the rectangular substantially at platen indicated atB. The platen, as it moves upwardly, clamps thework against clamps 8 and8a arranged to overlie the side margins of the work sheets. These clamps'consist of strips set into the side rails 2 of the platen frame asindicated in Fig. 3.

In producing the usual work upon machines of the Elliott Fisher type, inwhich the entries are typed on two or more lines of the work sheet, suchas the posting of a number of items on a journal or ledger sheet, theplaten is depressed by the usual foot operated depressing mechanismprior to the insertion of a work sheet in the machine and the work isinserted with its left hand margin between the clamp 8 and the platenand with its edge in engagement with the adjacent rail 2' which forms anedge guide for the work, and the platen is then released to clamp thework sheet securely in position. 1f the work sheet is of sufficientwidth, its opposite side margins may be inserted respectively beneaththe clamps 8 and 3a before the platen is raised, and both side marginsof the work sheet will be clamped to the platen.

The platen raising and lowering mechanism comprises a pair of levers I0and I2 at each side of the platen. Each of the levers lll and I2 ispivoted upon the inner side of the adjacent side rail of the platenframe by means of a bearing sleeve I4 set in a recess in thecorresponding side rail and held in place by a screw I5. The levers Iand I2 are connected at their adjacent ends for simultaneous swingingmovement, the lever I2 having, at its end, a rounded extension I6arranged to engage in a recess I8 in the adjacent end of the lever IIJ.Each of the levers is connected with the adjacent side of the platen bymeans of a projection 20 on the lever arranged to engage in a recess 22formed in a bracket 24 secured to and projecting downwardly from theplaten. The levers of each pair are acted upon by vaV coiled spring 26attached at its ends to pins 28 mounted in the respective levers belowthe axes thereof.

Mechanism arranged to be operated by a foot treadle is provided forswinging downwardly the levers I0 and I2 to depress the platen. Thismechanism is arranged to swing downwardly together the pairs of leverson opposite sides of the platen frame so as to depress both sides of theu platen uniformly.

The mechanism for depressing the platen comprises a bail 30, the ends ofthe spaced forwardly extending arms of which underlie the bearingsleeves I4 on which the forward platen operating levers I2 arefulcrumed. This bail is pivoted on a cross rod 32 secured at its ends inthe levers I0. To the rear portion of the bail 30 is secured the upperend of a rod 34 the lower end of which is connected with a suitabletreadle (not shown).

By means of the construction described, the platen is normally pressedupwardly toward the side clamps 8 and 8a by the action of the coiledsprings 26. The platen is depressed by drawing downwardly the rod 34 bymeans of the treadle, thereby depressing uniformly all parts of theplaten.

In the usual Elliott Fisher type of machine as shown in said FoothorapPatent No. 1,904,127, a line space frame is mounted for forward andrearward movement upon the side rails 2 of the platen frame and carriesfront and rear rails upon which is mounted for movement laterally of theplaten frame, a key or type carriage carrying the usual type mechanism.A portion only of the type mechanism is shown in Fig. 3 of this patentto show the relation of the type mechanism to the platen. The typemechanism shown comprises a type bar 35 mounted upon a type lever 31apivoted at 39 upon a bracket 4I secured to a plate 43 forming a part ofthe frame of the type carriage. This type mechanism has the sameconstruction, arrangement and mode of operation as the correspondingtype mechanism shown in the patent to Foothorap, No. 1,251,361, datedDecember 25, 1917.

As above stated, in operating upon certain kinds of Work, such as thetransferring of balances at predetermined periods, the typing on eachwork piece consists of a single line of posting. It is desirable, inperforming such posting operations, that it shall not be necessary todepress the platen and release the same, in inserting work sheets intothe machine and in withdrawing them therefrom, inasmuch as theseoperations take a substantial amount of labor and time and greatlyincrease the cost of production of the work. It is desirable however,that the operator should be able to insert the work in operatingposition beneath the clamp 8 at the left hand side of the machine and tobring its edge against the adjacent side rail 2 of the platen to locatethe work piece in proper operating position. To enable these results tobe secured, means is provided for relatively locating and holding theside clamp 8 and the left side of the platen in slightly spaced relationbut with the platen in typing position. In the preferred form of theinvention illustrated in this application, means is provided for holdingthe left hand side of the platen in slightly depressed but in typingposition so that the work sheets may be inserted between the clamp 8 andthe platen in engagement with the side rail 2 in operating position andtyped and then removed from the platen without depressing and releasingthe platen.

The mechanism for holding the left hand side of the platen in slightlydepressed position comprises two stop levers 36 each pivoted on the lefthand side rail of the platen frame and having a hook 31 located on theinside of the side rail, and arranged respectively to engage pins 38secured in the adjacent levers I Il and I2,`the side rail being recessedas at 40 to provide clearance for the movement of the hook. Each of thestop levers 36 is U-shaped in cross section and embraces a side rail asshown clearly in Fig. 3. Each lever is pivoted upon a bearing member 42mounted in a recess in the side rail and secured therein by means of ascrew 44 and a spring washer 45 is interposed between the inner arm ofthe lever and the adjacent wall of the side rail to hold frictionallythe lever in radjusted position. The arm of each stop lever on theoutside of the left hand side rail is provided with a, projection 4Garranged to be grasped by the operator in swinging the stop levers intoand out of operative position. If it is found to be desirable to holdboth sides of the platen in slightly depressed position, a second set ofstop levers 36 may be mounted upon the side rail 2 on the right side ofthe platen frame, and arranged to engage pins on the levers IE) and I2on that side of the platen.

When work requiring the clamping of each work sheet between the clampingstrip 8 and the left hand margin of the platen is being performed, thestop levers 36 are adjusted substantially in the positions shown in Fig.1 so that the hooks 31 on said levers do not engage the pins 38. Whenwork is to be done in the performance of which it is desirable that eachwork piece shall not be clamped between the left hand margin of the fplaten and the clamp 8, the platen is depressed by the depression of thetreadle to place the pins 33 below the hooks 31 and the stop levers 36are then swung in a counter-clockwise direction (Fig.

l) to place the hooks above the pins so that the pins will engage thesame upon the release of the treadle. The pins and the hooks on the stoplevers are so constructed and arranged that the engagement of the pinswith the hooks will hold the left hand side of the platen in slightlydepressed position as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 but not suicientlydepressed to interfere in any degree with the proper operation of thetype mechanism.

In actual practice, it has been found that, with the parts constructedand arranged so that the stop levers hold the left side of the platen ina position substantially one-thirty-second of an inch below the clamp 8,highly satisfactory results are produced. This spacing between themargin of the platen and the clamp 8 allows sufficient room for theinsertion of the upper work sheet, carbons and sheets upon which copiesare to be made in the transferring of balances and similar work but theslightly depressed position of the left side of the platen does notinterfere with the proper operation of the type mechanism upon the worksupported on the platen. The holding down of the left side of the platento this extent will not hold down correspondingly the right side of theplaten because of the play in the connections between the parts of theplaten operating mechanism, but the right side of the platen will beelevated into contact with the clamp 8a by the spring 26 on that sidethereof.

With the stop levers in this position, the work pieces may be insertedbetween the left hand margin of the platen and the clamping strip 8prior to the typing operation and removed therefrom after the typingoperation with a minimum expenditure of labor and time, the work piecespreferably being held in position manually during the typing operation.

When the operation upon this class of work is completed the machine maybe restored to its normal operation by again depressing the treadle andthen swinging the stop levers back in a clockwise direction into thepositions shown in Fig. l.

Having explained the nature and object of the invention and havingspecically described a construction embodying the invention in itspreferred form, what is claimed is:

l. A typewriting machine having, in combination, a work holding clamp, asubstantially iiat platen, mechanism tending yieldingly to move theclamp and platen relatively toward each other, manually operable meansfor moving relatively the clamp and platen away from each other andmeans mounted independently of the platen for movement into and out ofoperative position to hold the platen and clamp at the left side of theplaten against the action of said mechanism in slightly spaced relationbut with the platen in typing position.

2. In a typewriting machine, a platen frame, a substantially flat platenvertically movable in said frame, a clamp overlying one margin of theplaten, mechanism for moving the platen vertically, comprising a pair oflevers at each side of the frame pivoted to the frame and connected forsimultaneous swinging movement, connections between each pair of thelevers and the platen for moving the platen vertically, manuallyoperable mechanism for actuating said levers to depress the platen,means acting yieldingly on said levers to move the platen verticallyinto engagement with said clamp and means acting directly on the platenmoving mechanism to limit the movement of the levers on one side of theplaten to hold the said side of the platen in slightly lowered positionagainst the action of said yieldingly acting means but with the platenin typing position.

3. In a typewriting machine, a platen frame, a substantially flat platenvertically movable in said frame, a clamp arranged to overlie one marginof the platen for clamping the work when the platen is fully elevated, apin mounted for vertical movement with the platen and a hook mounted onthe platen frame and pivotally adjustable into and out of position toengage said pin when the platen is moved toward clamping position forholding the portion of the platen opposite the clamp in slightlydepressed position.

4. A typewriting machine having, in combination, a substantially flatplaten, a clamp arranged to overlie one margin of the platen, mechanismfor supporting the platen and clamp for relative movement toward andfrom each other, means tending to move relatively the platen and clamptoward each other to clamp the work sheets on the platen, manuallyoperable mechanism for moving relatively the platen and clamp away fromeach other, an edge guide adjacent the said margin of the platen forengaging the edges of the work sheets to locate the same in typingposition and devices mounted independently of the platen and arranged tobe adjusted into and out of operative position for holding the clamp andthe portion of the platen opposed to the clamp against the action ofsaid means in slightly spaced relation but with the platen in typingposition to enable the work sheets to be placed on the platen betweenthe clamp and the platen with the edges thereof in engagement with theedge guide and to be typed in this position, the edge guide beingexposed and accessible along the entire said margin of the platenopposed to the clamp When said devices are in operative position.

ELMER L. WISE.

